• AA5B@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I tried the same exercise and it’s so frustrating most people would give up. It took way too long to get to a route map, so I could find out Altoona connects to Philly and Pittsburg

    Booking a trip as one thing didn’t work so I tried booking two legs: Raleigh—>Phil, Phil—>Altoona. This approach lets you specify different dates, so your logic about different days doesn’t hold …

    Then I had to give up. Amtrak’s site is broken for iPhone/Safari so each operation was delayed by as long as a minute or more and I was never able to proceed far enough to see schedules. No one uses a smartphone these days: clearly just a fad

    • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      This is why I find the response “people don’t use rail much in the US, there just isn’t the demand, we have to wait until there is demand” so annoying. It’s like Amtrak sucks, I would have spent innumerable more time on trains if Amtrak wasn’t overpriced crap that makes you book far in advance like a fucking airline flight in order to get a reasonable ticket price.

      I pretty much only utilize commuter rails like the MTA in Boston because they are so much more functional and affordable.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        Me and my family members have tried a few times. "We’re going there and coming back, this is kind of a pleasure trip, I’m in no immediate hurry so going slower than an airliner is acceptable, let’s see what Amtrak can do. In almost all cases, Amtrak’s answer is “We can’t do that.”

        The ONLY train that serves my local platform here is the Silver Star. They don’t want you using it for short-haul trips like from here to Raleigh, so there are routes I’m locked out of unless I drive myself to Greensboro. The Silver Star is served by one physical train, it comes through here at about 9 at night and about 6 in the morning, and those hours aren’t even a little stable.

        The navigation a passenger has to do to get from here to the West coast by Amtrak is more complicated than needed to drive yourself. I can get from here to Los Angeles on street signs alone. Amtrak is I suspect deliberately unhelpful.